That is an indication of his mastery of his craft.
Maybe you’re quite young? Here’s his filmography. It’s pretty impressive, and he has usually been astoundingly convincing in each part he’s played.
This kinda slipped by me in my excitment over Hopkin’s talent.
You’ll notice I said nothing about “beauty” in my OP. Many popular actors are anything but beautiful, especially the contest version of beauty.
I’d say Robert De Niro because of his role as Noodles in Once Upon a Time in America (an extremely underrated classic directed by Sergio Leone), and a lot of his work in Martin Scorsese’s films (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas). Taxi Driver and Raging Bull are great examples of how a powerful lead can affect a film. Goodfellas is a good example of how even the tiniest bit of great acting from a supporting character can make a film more interesting.
I used to be more assertive about my opinion of him being the greatest actor, but I realized that he’s also been in a lot of crap. If I were an actor, I would never agree to be in a piece of crap. Even if I were the best actor in the world, if all the roles I was being offerred were crap, I’d rather work at McDonald’s (where I could cook crap on a daily basis). I think the perfect actor would have to be one of the smartest people ever (speaking of which, James Woods (who was with De Niro in Once Upon a Time in America and Casino) and Sharon Stone (a ranging from good-to-mediocre/pretty-bad actress who was also in Casino) are said to have high IQs of about 180). The Good Shepherd (De Niro’s second shot at directing) was either the most boring film I’ve ever seen, or it was so brilliant that I couldn’t understand any of it. Don’t know about A Bronx Tale.
So De Niro is my choice for best actor, but my favorite actor is Clint Eastwood, who also worked with Sergio Leone in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, For a Few Dollars More, and A Fistful of Dollars. In fact my username “MwNNrules” means Man with No Name rules. He’s a better director than De Niro (see Unforgiven), though he’s made some pretty forgettable ones (The Eiger Sanction).
Difficult, but not impossible. Several here have done so.
What is impossible is being “right”. That’s what “subjective” means, isn’t it?
So be courageous and pick one, right here in front of the whole world. 
James Cagney
Harold Russell 
Isn’t that exactly what makes him great? He is each character. It’s not like, “Oh look, Actor B is playing someone in this new movie.”
Bette Davis. For my money the best film actor of all time, and no slouch at the box office. She’s Streep’s favorite too, FWIW.
Again, I beg the admins, or whoever can provide such a thing, for a “shakes head” emoticon. 
For that, I would sadly sacrifice the :dubious:.
Gene Hackman.
Intensity, believability, range. He’s got it all.
There ya go! All About Eve. Even in Hush Hush she entertained us.
I came in to say Daniel Day-Lewis. Christy Brown, Nathaniel Poe, Newland Archer, Danny Flynn, Bill The Butcher, Jack Slavin, Daniel Plainview, Guido Contini, and so on…each of those characters are VERY different from each other. With the exception of There Will Be Blood, where he was completely unrecognizable, you may actually know it’s Daniel Day-Lewis each time, but his range is tremendous. On the other hand, I certainly don’t blame those who are saying Gary Oldman.
The two are not mutually exclusive. Personally, with the caveat that I absolutely HATED the actor who played the grown son, I think it was one of the best movies of its year. Maybe not “brilliant” but not boring if you’re paying attention AND you’re in the mood for a slow, quiet movie where the dialogue is very important. The most brilliant movie ever made can seem boring if you’re not in the mood and aren’t paying attention.
Lon Chaney.
Alec Guinness was a superb actor, equally adept at dramatic and comedic roles. Kind of a British equivalent of Gene Hackman. It’s a shame he’s mostly only known to many as Obi Wan, but at least “Bridge on the River Kwai” is shown fairly regularly.
Yeah. I was pretty bored during my first view of Once Upon a Time in America, but I now consider it a gem in the field of cinema, and completely underrated.
My pick too. I can’t help confusing his name with Gary Coleman however.
Gotta go with Gene Hackman.
I am very tired and read this as Gary Coleman. I stared at it for a long time and then decided that (in true Doper fashion) it was snark on a daring scale.
And then I kept reading people agreeing with you and mentioning the not recognizing him and thought that I had stumbled upon another Doper meme…
I had to google the name before it hit me. :eek: :rolleyes: 
I’m not sure I don’t prefer the “snarky” answer! (although I think Gary Oldman is a fantastic actor.)
You folks are dissing Gary Colmen, the greatest black midget actor of all time!
Robert Duvall, Myrna Loy, M. Emmet Walsh, Betty Hutton, Gary Oldman, Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Cary Grant, Michael Caine . How can you decide?